JAY Kennedy-Harris says the players are right behind former coach Neale Daniher’s ‘Big Freeze 2’ campaign to help find a cure for motor neurone disease, which will be held before the Melbourne and Collingwood Queen’s Birthday clash at the MCG on Monday, June 13.

The Melbourne players donned the new-look ‘Big Freeze 2 beanie’ at training on Wednesday and Kennedy-Harris said the club was more than happy to help Daniher and his cause.

“The Dees have a great story behind it and I met Neale for the first time last year and he spoke about his journey and his plans to cure MND,” he told Melbourne TV.

“Last year was such a great success on Queen’s Birthday that we’ll do it again this year, which will be great.

“This morning we got out and we were all given a beanie, which was incredibly comfortable, so [I encourage everyone to] definitely get one. We also had a few photos for a great cause.”  

Meanwhile, Kennedy-Harris said last week’s Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round – the first to be named after the great Australian – said it was an honour to be involved in the celebration.

“It was great [to visit Alice Springs],” he said, although he didn’t play as he was coming back from a hamstring injury.

“It started a few weeks ago when we did the cultural awareness training as a club. It was just for the boys to learn a bit about myself Nev [Jetta] and Jeffy [Garlett], but just the way they embraced it – they thoroughly enjoyed it.

“How that translates to us – we feel really welcome around the place more than ever before, and that’s not like we haven’t in the past [either]. That was great.

“The way we went into the game with the [painted] boots, the effort that went into the jumper and the way the AFL just celebrates the round as a whole – it was really special.

“To be up there and to be a part of it myself was great and to get out in the community [was great]. Angus Brayshaw and Liam Hulett were also up there and we did a lot of really good things up there. It was a bit of a strenuous couple of days, but it was great fun just to be out there and get among the community.”